1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing reels having an operating mechanism including a shaft that both rotates about, and translates relative to, an axis and, more particularly, to a bearing structure for supporting a part of the shaft.
2. Background Art
In a spinning fishing reel construction, a line carrying spool is mounted to the front of a frame. A rotor, with a bail assembly thereon, rotates to wrap line around the line carrying spool. An externally situated crank handle drives an operating mechanism which rotates the rotor and at the same time effects oscillation of the spool about a fore and aft axis. This oscillation accounts for an even distribution of line along the axial extent of the spool. In a typical construction, the spool is mounted upon a shaft which extends to the rear of the reel. The operating mechanism acts upon the rearwardly extending shaft to effect reciprocating movement thereof.
With the bail assembly in a retrieve position, the line can be drawn from the spool only by either reversely rotating the rotor or effecting rotation of the spool about its axis. To prevent unimpeded rotation of the spool, a drag mechanism is incorporated into the reel. In a typical, rear mounted drag system, a drag force is applied to the rear free end of the spool shaft.
In one known form, one or more drag washers are keyed to the rear end of the shaft to rotate therewith. These drag washers are sandwiched between another series of drag washers which are rotatable relative to the shaft. Through a threaded actuator, the stack of drag washers can be compressed against the reel frame, thereby developing a variable frictional force between the washers and the frame. An exemplary drag system of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,469, to Stiner.
In the Stiner structure, the shaft is required to slide lengthwise relative to the drag washers to which it is keyed. With no torque exerted on the spool, this does not create a problem. However, with the spool and associated shaft torqued, as when reeling in a fish, the shaft tends to skew. As a result, frictional forces between the shaft and the drag washers to which it is keyed increases. This offers resistance to the reciprocating movement of the shaft. Since the oscillating mechanism is driven through the line retrieve mechanism, the line retrieve mechanism similarly encounters resistance. Smooth operation of the reel is thus impeded.
In another prior art system, a die-cast metal housing is provided with an opening to key the spool shaft end against rotation while allowing relative translatory movement between the shaft and housing. While the problem of detrimental friction between the shaft and housing is present, it is not as pronounced as with the shaft keyed to the drag washers having a higher coefficient of friction. Nonetheless, there may be significant resistance to line retrieval.